Vol. VI, No. 11.] History & Ethnology of N.-E. India— II. 629 



[N.S.] 



age remained unaltered until the break-up of Assamese rule. 

 To enable the relation of Rudra Simha to the remaining Sove- 

 reigns of Assam to be clearly understood, the pedigree on the 

 following page, which is compiled chiefly from Mr. Gait's 

 History, may be found useful. The dates (usually quoted in 

 the S'aka era to facilitate reference to the coins struck by these 

 Kings) are based upon a comparison of all available coin dates 

 with the duration of each King's reign, as given by Mr. Gait. 



From the year of Rudra Simha' s installation, Assamese 

 coins began to be produced of a standard that few subsequent 

 issues could even be said to rival. The explanation of this 

 probably lies in the fact that his father Gadadhara Simha (and 

 presumably also himself), during the troublous years before the 

 former's accession to the throne, had taken refuge in Muham- 

 madan territory and both of them subsequently introduced 

 artisans from Kuch Bihar and Bengal to improve the standard 

 of civilisation in Assam. Amongst the workmen introduced 

 by Rudra Simha must have been die-cutters and mechanics 

 from some Muhammadan mint, as it is impossible to believe 

 that the coins that were issued throughout his reign were the 

 unaided work of indigenous craftsmen. In addition to ordi- 

 nary rupees, muhurs with the same inscription were struck, 

 and there was also an issue of half and quarter rupees. The 

 inscriptions of the three varieties of coins are as follows : — 



Rupees. 

 Obverse. Reverse. 



(1) Sri Sri Ha 



mat 



pa- 

 i madh 



(2) Svarga deva Rudra (2) ra Gaur'% 



(3) Simhasya Sa (3) d ambuj 



(4) Ice (Date) (4) karasya 

 1 Simha ' facing Right. " A bee on the lotus feet of 



© "~& 



" (Coin) of His Heavenly Hara and Gauri ' ' 

 Majesty, Rudra Simha of 

 surpassing beauty, (struck) 

 in S'aka (date) ' ' 



Half Rupees. 



(1) Sri S'ri (1) Sri S'ri 



(2) Rudra Si (2) Siva pada 



(3) mhasya (3) parasya 

 ' ' (Coin) of Rudra Simha " < « Devoted to the feet of Siva 



Quarter Rupees. 



(1) S'ri S'ri (l),Sake 



(2) Rudra Simha (2) pate) 



(3) NrijMuya 

 " (Coin) of King Rudra Simha' ' " (Struck) in S'aka (date) " 



V: 9 J 



